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SoilclassificationWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Soilclassification
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Soilclassificationdealswiththesystematiccategorizationofsoilsbasedon
distinguishingcharacteristicsaswellascriteriathatdictatechoicesinuse.

Contents
1 Overview
1.1 Engineering
1.2 Soilscience
2 SoilClassificationsforOSHA
3 Seealso
4 Furtherreading
4.1 Currentinternationalsystem
4.2 Currentnationalsystems
4.3 Currenttechnicalsystems
4.4 Earliersystemsofhistoricalinterest
4.5 Principles
4.6 Numericalclassification
5 References
6 Externallinks

Soiltypes

Overview
Soilclassificationisadynamicsubject,fromthestructureofthesystemitself,tothedefinitionsofclasses,andfinallyinthe
applicationinthefield.Soilclassificationcanbeapproachedfromtheperspectiveofsoilasamaterialandsoilasa
resource.

Engineering
Engineers,typicallygeotechnicalengineers,classifysoilsaccordingtotheirengineeringpropertiesastheyrelatetousefor
foundationsupportorbuildingmaterial.Modernengineeringclassificationsystemsaredesignedtoallowaneasytransition
fromfieldobservationstobasicpredictionsofsoilengineeringpropertiesandbehaviors.
ThemostcommonengineeringclassificationsystemforsoilsinNorthAmericaistheUnifiedSoilClassificationSystem
(USCS).TheUSCShasthreemajorclassificationgroups:(1)coarsegrainedsoils(e.g.sandsandgravels)(2)fine
grainedsoils(e.g.siltsandclays)and(3)highlyorganicsoils(referredtoas"peat").TheUSCSfurthersubdividesthe
threemajorsoilclassesforclarification.Itdistinguishessandsfromgravelsbygrainsize,andfurtherclassifyingsomeas
"wellgraded"andtherestas"poorlygraded".Siltsandclaysaredistinguishedbythesoils'Atterberglimits,andseparates
"highplasticity"from"lowplasticity"soilsaswell.Moderatelyorganicsoilsareconsideredsubdivisionsofsiltsandclays,
andaredistinguishedfrominorganicsoilsbychangesintheirplasticityproperties(andAtterberglimits)ondrying.The
Europeansoilclassificationsystem(ISO14688)isverysimilar,differingprimarilyincodingandinaddingan
"intermediateplasticity"classificationforsiltsandclays,andinminordetails.

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OtherengineeringsoilclassificationsystemsintheUnitedStatesincludetheAASHTOSoilClassificationSystemandthe
ModifiedBurmistersystem.[1]
Afullgeotechnicalengineeringsoildescriptionwillalsoincludeotherpropertiesofthesoilincludingcolor,insitumoisture
content,insitustrength,andsomewhatmoredetailaboutthematerialpropertiesofthesoilthanisprovidedbytheUSCS
code.TheUSCSandadditionalengineeringdescriptionisstandardizedinASTMD2487.[2]

Soilscience
Forsoilresources,experiencehasshownthatanaturalsystemapproachto
classification,i.e.groupingsoilsbytheirintrinsicproperty(soilmorphology),
behaviour,orgenesis,resultsinclassesthatcanbeinterpretedformanydiverse
uses.Differingconceptsofpedogenesis,anddifferencesinthesignificanceof
morphologicalfeaturestovariouslandusescanaffecttheclassificationapproach.
Despitethesedifferences,inawellconstructedsystem,classificationcriteria
groupsimilarconceptssothatinterpretationsdonotvarywidely.Thisisin
contrasttoatechnicalsystemapproachtosoilclassification,wheresoilsare
groupedaccordingtotheirfitnessforaspecificuseandtheiredaphic
characteristics.
Naturalsystemapproachestosoilclassification,suchastheFrenchSoil
ReferenceSystem(Rfrentielpdologiquefranais)arebasedonpresumedsoil
genesis.Systemshavedeveloped,suchasUSDAsoiltaxonomyandtheWorld
ReferenceBaseforSoilResources,whichusetaxonomiccriteriainvolvingsoil
morphologyandlaboratoryteststoinformandrefinehierarchicalclasses.

Soiltexturetriangleshowingthe
USDAclassificationsystembasedon
grainsize

Anotherapproachisnumericalclassification,alsocalledordination,wheresoil
individualsaregroupedbymultivariatestatisticalmethodssuchascluster
analysis.Thisproducesnaturalgroupingswithoutrequiringanyinferenceaboutsoilgenesis.

Insoilsurvey,aspracticedintheUnitedStates,soilclassificationusuallymeanscriteriabasedonsoilmorphologyin
additiontocharacteristicsdevelopedduringsoilformation.Criteriaaredesignedtoguidechoicesinlanduseandsoil
management.Asindicated,thisisahierarchicalsystemthatisahybridofbothnaturalandobjectivecriteria.USDAsoil
taxonomyprovidesthecorecriteriafordifferentiatingsoilmapunits.Thisisasubstantialrevisionofthe1938USDAsoil
taxonomywhichwasastrictlynaturalsystem.Soiltaxonomybasedsoilmapunitsareadditionallysortedintoclassesbased
ontechnicalclassificationsystems.LandCapabilityClasses,hydricsoil,andprimefarmlandaresomeexamples.
Inadditiontoscientificsoilclassificationsystems,therearealsovernacularsoilclassificationsystems.Folktaxonomieshave
beenusedformillennia,whilescientificallybasedsystemsarerelativelyrecentdevelopments.[3]

SoilClassificationsforOSHA
TheU.S.OccupationalSafetyandHealthAdministration(OSHA)requirestheclassificationofsoilstoprotectworkers
frominjurywhenworkinginexcavationsandtrenches.OSHAuses3soilclassificationsplusoneforrock,basedprimarily
onstrengthbutalso:[4]
StableRock:naturalsolidmineralmatterthatcanbeexcavatedwithverticalsidesandremainintactwhileexposed.
TypeAcohesive,plasticsoilswithunconfinedcompressivestrengthgreaterthan1.5tonpersquarefoot(tsf)(144
kPa),andmeetingseveralotherrequirements(withalateralsoilpressureof25psfperftofdepth[5])
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TypeBcohesivesoilswithunconfinedcompressivestrengthbetween0.5tsf(48kPa)and1.5tsf(144kPa),or
unstabledryrock,orsoilswhichwouldotherwisebeTypeA(withalateralsoilpressureof45psfperftofdepth[6])
TypeCgranularsoilsorcohesivesoilswithunconfinedcompressivestrengthlessthan0.5tsf(48kPa)orany
submergedorfreelyseepingsoiloradverselybeddedsoils(withalateralsoilpressureof80psfperftofdepth[7])
TypeC60AsubtypeofTypeCsoil,thoughisnotofficiallyrecognizedbyOSHAasaseparatetype,hasalateral
soilpressureof60psfperftofdepth[8][9]
Eachofthesoilclassificationshasimplicationsforthewaytheexcavationmustbemadeortheprotections(sloping,
shoring,shielding,etc.)thatmustbeprovidedtoprotectworkersfromcollapseoftheexcavatedbank.[10][11]

Seealso
AASHTOSoilClassificationSystem
AustralianSoilClassification
Canadiansystemofsoilclassification
Frenchsoilclassification
FAOsoilclassification
InternationalCommitteeonAnthropogenicSoils(ICOMANTH)
UnifiedSoilClassificationSystem
USDAsoiltaxonomy
WorldReferenceBaseforSoilResources(WRB)

Furtherreading
Eswaran,H.,Rice,T.,Ahrens,R.,&Stewart,B.A.(Eds.).(2002).Soilclassification:aglobaldeskreference.
BocaRaton,Fla.:CRCPress.

Currentinternationalsystem
Buol,S.W.,Southard,R.J.,Graham,R.C.,andMcDaniel,P.A.(2003).SoilGenesisandClassification,5thEdition.
IowaStatePressBlackwell,Ames,IA.
Driessen,P.,Deckers,J.,Spaargaren,O.,&Nachtergaele,F.(Eds.).(2001).Lecturenotesonthemajorsoilsof
theworld.Rome:FAO.
FAO.(1998).WorldReferenceBaseforSoilResources.Rome:FoodandAgricultureOrganizationoftheUnited
Nations.

Currentnationalsystems
AgricultureCanadaExpertCommitteeonSoilSurvey.(1987).TheCanadiansystemofsoilclassification(2nded.).
Ottawa:CanadianGovernmentPublishingCentre.
Avery,B.W.(1980).SoilclassificationforEnglandandWales:highercategories.Cranfield,England:Cranfield
University,SoilSurvey&LandResearchCentre/NationalSoilResourcesInstitute.[12]
Baize,D.,&Girard,M.C.(Eds.).(1995).Rfrentielpdologique1995.Paris:InstitutNationaldelaRecherche
Agronomique.
Baize,D.,&Girard,M.C.(Eds.).(1998).Asoundreferencebaseforsoils:The"RfrentielPdologique"(English
translationbyHodgsonJ.M.,EskenaziN.R.,&BaizeD.ed.).Paris:InstitutNationaldelaRecherche
Agronomique.
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Hewitt,A.E.(1992).SoilclassificationinNewZealand:legacyandlessons.AustralianJournalofSoilResearch,
30,843854.
Isbell,R.F.(1996).TheAustraliansoilclassification.Collingwood,Victoria,Australia:CSIRO.
SoilClassificationWorkingGroup.(1991).Soilclassification:ataxonomicsystemforSouthAfrica.Pretoria:
DepartmentofAgriculturalDevelopment,RSA.
SoilSurveyStaff.(1999).Soiltaxonomy:abasicsystemofsoilclassificationformakingandinterpretingsoilsurveys
(2nded.).Washington,DC:USDepartmentofAgricultureSoilConservationService.

Currenttechnicalsystems
Technicalsoilclassificationsystemsfocusonrepresentingsomespecificfacetorqualityofthesoil,ratherthanadirect
pedogeneticclassification.Suchtechnicalclassificationsaredevelopedwithspecificapplicationsinmind,suchassoilwater
relationships,landqualityassessmentorgeotechnicalengineering.
Boorman,D.B.,Hollis,J.M.,&Lilly,A.(1995).Hydrologyofsoiltypes:ahydrologicallybasedclassificationof
thesoilsoftheUnitedKingdom(No.126):UKInstituteofHydrology.[13]
Klingebiel,A.A.,&Montgomery,P.H.(1961).Landcapabilityclassification.Washington,DC:USGovernment
PrintingOffice.
Sanchez,P.A.,Palm,C.A.,&Buol,S.W.(2003).Fertilitycapabilitysoilclassification:atooltohelpassesssoil
qualityinthetropics.Geoderma,114(34),157185.
AmericanSocietyforTestingandMaterials,1985,D248783,ClassificationofSoilsforEngineeringPurposes:
AnnualBookofASTMStandards.Vol.04.08,pp395408.

Earliersystemsofhistoricalinterest
Baldwin,M.,Kellogg,C.E.,&Thorp,J.(1938).Soilclassification.InSoilsandmen:Yearbookofagriculture
(pp.9791001).Washington,DC:U.S.DepartmentofAgriculture.
Simonson,R.W.(1989).HistoricalaspectsofsoilsurveyandsoilclassificationwithemphasisontheUnitedStates,
18991970.Wageningen,NL:InternationalSoilReferenceandInformationCentre(ISRIC).

Principles
Butler,B.E.(1980).Soilclassificationforsoilsurvey.Oxford:OxfordSciencePublications.Science,96,
Cline,M.G.(1949).Basicprinciplesofsoilclassification.SoilScience,67(2),8191.
Cline,M.G.(1963).Logicofthenewsystemofsoilclassification.Soil1722.
Webster,R.(1968).Fundamentalobjectionstothe7thapproximation.JournalofSoilScience,19,354366.
TerzaghiKarl(1924).SoilMechanicsinEngineeringPractice,WileyInterscience3Subedition(January1996,
ISBN0471086584)

Numericalclassification
McBratney,A.B.,&deGruijter,J.J.(1992).Acontinuumapproachtosoilclassificationbymodifiedfuzzyk
meanswithextragrades.JournalofSoilScience,43(1),159175.

References
1."DonaldM.Burmister".Civil.columbia.edu.Retrieved20140611.
2.ClassificationofSoilsforEngineeringPurposes:AnnualBookofASTMStandards,D248783,04.08,AmericanSociety
forTestingandMaterials,1985,pp.395408
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3.Soilclassificationsystems(http://forages.oregonstate.edu/is/ssis/main.cfm?PageID=162).Urllastaccessed20060418
4."SlopingandBenching1926SubpartPAppA".Osha.gov.Retrieved20150507.
5.http://pacificshoring.com/store/media/pdf/corrugatedsheeting.pdf
6.http://pacificshoring.com/store/media/pdf/corrugatedsheeting.pdf
7.http://pacificshoring.com/store/media/pdf/corrugatedsheeting.pdf
8.https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=INTERPRETATIONS&p_id=21360
9.http://www.engtips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=356225
10."SamplingandAnalyticalMethods|ClassificationofSoilsforExcavations,ID194".Osha.gov.Retrieved20140611.
11."SlopingandBenching1926SubpartPAppB".Osha.gov.Retrieved20140611.
12."SoilclassificationsystemofEnglandandWales".CranfieldUniversity,NationalSoilResourcesInstitute.Retrieved
20111222.
13."Hydrologyofsoiltypes".CranfieldUniversity,NationalSoilResourcesInstitute.Retrieved20111222.

Externallinks
ACompendiumofOnLineSoilSurveyInformationSoilClassification
WikimediaCommonshas
forSoilSurveybyD.G.Rossiter(http://www.itc.nl/personal/rossiter/resea
mediarelatedtoSoil
rch/rsrch_ss_class.html)
science.
Engineeringsoildescriptionandclassification(http://fbe.uwe.ac.uk/public/
geocal/SoilMech/classification/)
OSHASoilClassification(http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p
_id=10931)
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